Ella Enchanted
by Gail Carson Levine
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Book Reviews of Ella Enchanted
Book Review: The Twists Of "Ella Enchanted"
Summary: 5 Stars
The book of"Ella Enchanted", by Gail Carson Levine, is an excellent book. If I had a choice to rate this book for the stars I'd give it 5 stars.
In this book there is a girl named Eleanor of Frell, who is also called Ella. I gave this book 5 stars because of the magic and fantasy, as in the fairy named Lucinda giving the gift of obedience, but I didn't expect the fairy's gift could be a curse? The story also gave examples of what she would have to do if she was ordered to do something. As in, if Ella was given a command hop in the rain for one hour, then she would have to. If she was told to kill someone, she would have to. Every second of her life was in danger. I also like this story because it shows tragety and sorrow. Ella had to go through some difficulties with her family. Her mother had died due to sickness and her father had remarried to an evil stepmother, Dame Olga, with two other daughters, Hattie and Olive.
I rated this story as I did because it also involves unexpected turns and disbelief. Like Mandy, her cook, and Prince Char to talk to when she feels sad. Later, Ella had found out that Mandy was her fairy godmother all along! This story also involves andventure and mayhem. After Ella had found out that Lucinda was the fairy who gave her the gift of obedience, she had started her journey to find her and try to remove the spell forever, except Lucinda didn't remove it, Ella had to find a way herself. This story includes romance and the decission of Prince Char's saftey. He had ordered her to marry him but Hattie ordered her to her room. This was when Ella was able to break the curse! She didn't have to take anymore commands and was free at last.
A title that I'd recommend if you like stories along the lines of fantasy, magic, tragety, sorrow, unexpected turns, and romance, it would be "The Two Princesses of Barremere". I personally loved both books and have more to come.
Book Review: Ella Enchanted Review
Summary: 4 Stars
Ella is a girl who was cursed at birth. When she was about thirteen, her mother passed away. At her mothers funeral, she meets her soon to be step sisters Hattie and Olive. Lady Olga is their mother. Then Ella's father sends her off to finishing school with Hattie and Olive. Hattie orders Ella to give Hattie Ella's mother's necklace. Ella must give it over because she was cursed with obedience. Hattie figures this out and uses it against her. While she is at finishing school, Ella makes a friend named Areida. She gives Ella lessons in Ayorthaian. After a while Areida and Ella become best friends, but then Hattie orders her to stop hanging out with Areida and Ella must obey. Ella escapes from finishing school. One day she wakes up surrounded by ogres. Prince Charmont and six knights help her, but she persuades the ogres to let themselves be tied up. Then she attends a wedding to find the fairy that cursed her. Ella returns home where Lady Olga and her father wed. After her father and Lady Olga wed, Ella attends three balls for the prince to see who he will marry. Ella hides her identity from the prince so he wont know who she is. After the third ball, Ella reveals herself to him and shows him it was her all along. Ella and Prince Charmont fall in love. But before they get married and live happily ever after, Ella must figure out how to break the spell. Soon she figures out that if she tries she can break the spell. She breaks the spell by saying no to marrying him and no to Hattie telling her what to do. Then Ella and Prince Charmont fall in love, get married, and live happily ever after.Book Review: much better than the movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I picked this book up because I saw the movie that is based on this book a while back. First, I need to say that the movie was only very loosely based on this book - I recognized bits and pieces, but I was surprised at how much was changed. Even many character personalities were changed. It was a bit odd, at times, but I found that I enjoyed the book a great deal more than the movie. Ella was cursed at birth to always do what anyone tells her to do. In response, Ella tries to either delay her reaction to an order or to carry out the order in a way that the person who gave it never intended. This allows Ella to live a fairly tolerable life. However, after a girl at finishing school discovers Ella's curse, her life becomes much more miserable. Ella tries to find a way to break her curse, but her life gets even worse when her father marries a horrible woman with two equally horrible daughters. One of these daughters is, unfortunately, the girl from finishing school. The book is a bit darker than the movie ever was, and I was constantly wondering what new and horrible order others would give Ella. The Char of this book seemed a much more likely future king than the Char of the movie, and I grew to like this one more than the other. The author handled the emotion of the story perfectly, and I even cried a little about some of the things that Ella had to do. This is the kind of book that I was always combing the shelves of the library for when I was younger: it's an interesting young adult book that doesn't insult the intelligence of its readers.
Book Review: A Different, Better Cinderella
Summary: 5 Stars
The story of Ella is one of empowerment, as Ella is a character every young girl can relate to. Levine puts a spin on the classic Cinderella story, and makes her "Cinderella" so much more than a good girl longing for a life of love. Ella, unlike most girls, longs for freedom and independence. She is given the "gift" of obedience at birth by the renegade fairy Lucinda, and while she has a fairy godmother, only Lucinda can undo the spell. This "gift" instead of causing Ella to become docile and meek, instead brings out her spunk and spirit causing her to become more of a rebel than anything. While she must obey direct commands, she tries to hold out against them as long as she possibly can and more often than not finds ways to evade the instructions so that another, more direct order will have to be issued.
Like the classic Cinderella story, there is a Prince, step-sisters, and a horrid step-mother. However, by having Ella and Char, the Prince, get to know and befriend each other before any aspect of "love" come into play and by not focusing on Ella's physical attributes, but her personality, the eventual romance between the two is much easier to believe. While the stepsisters are horrid and do awful things, Levine gives them each a distinct personality. Her characters seem to dance with life and none so more than Ella herself.
Book Review: Ella Enchanted- a funny, imaginative novel
Summary: 5 Stars
This book tell the story of a girl named Ella who must be obedient because of a spell that was cast on her as a baby by a foolish fairy named Lucinda. She befriends the prince Charmont, or Char, at the funeral of her beloved mother. Ella is sent to finishing school but runs away to find Lucinda. She has many adventures with creatures like ogres and elves. Ella is unsuccessful in persuading Lucinda to remove the spell and returns home. Her father remarries a rich widow, but as soon as he leaves Ella is forced to be a slave in her own house. Her only comfort is the letters she recieves from Char. One day, Char confesses his love for her in a letter, but Ella cannot accept because her curse would bring danger to him. She decides to go to the balls he holds in diguise. Lucinda provides a coach, coachman, and horses out of a pumpkin, lizard, and mice, but they will disapear at midnight. At the end of the last ball, Ella is unmasked just as it turns midnight, and she must run. But she loses her glass slipper along the way, so Char tracks her down. Ella breaks the curse by refusing to marry him, so then she can marry him after all. This book is a funny, imaginative retelling of the Cinderella story that tells Cinderella's background.